(August 1, 2019) Countless hours watching NHL games with her dad planted a passion for hockey and play-by-play within Bridgette Proulx. She will be combining those passions this winter as the voice of Yale women’s hockey on ESPN+.
“When I was trying to decide what to go to college for, I remember my dad telling me, ‘Do something you love, something that doesn’t feel like work.’ So I took his advice and chose to pursue something I never seem to get tired of — talking about hockey,” Proulx grins.
The opportunity arose in May when Yale asked STAA to help find play-by-play talent. “I learned about the job opportunity at Yale through an STAA posting in one of the member emails,” Proulx recalls. “I sent my reel and resume to the email listed and got a quick response.
“I was looking to get a steady amount of games doing play-by-play for a college or professional hockey team. In the past I was mostly getting opportunities as a fill-in. It’s a good stepping stone for my career from mostly radio broadcasts to broadcasts on visual mediums.”
Proulx is a 2016 graduate of the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She broadcast play-by-play for men’s hockey and women’s basketball on campus radio station WMUA. After graduating, she hosted football, basketball, and hockey broadcasts on the Boston College IMG Sports Network.
In 2018, Proulx became the first female Boston Red Sox producer on 93.7 WEEI.
Last spring, she broadcast the Women’s Hockey East Tournament for Providence College on FloSports. “That was helpful to being hired by Yale because it was very recent, was a similar style telecast to what Yale will have on ESPN+, and it provided me a good sample of work for my reel.”
She joined STAA in April. “Another STAA member and friend, Matt Neverett, referred me to STAA,” Proulx remembers.
The startup cost of an STAA membership caused Proulx to think twice before joining. “I joined STAA hoping that I would be able to land a job doing play-by-play for a college or professional hockey team,” she says. “I am mostly a producer at my job at WEEI, and I wanted to spend more time broadcasting to improve and increase my visibility. STAA has certainly done so by helping me land my current opportunity at Yale.”
While female play-by-play broadcasters are becoming more common, Proulx hopes the day is near when she will have more female colleagues.
“In my past job as a studio host at IMG I was the only female studio host for their approximately 80 schools,” she says. “In all of my previous jobs, the team of broadcasters and producers has included no more than two women, making up between 1% and 5% of employees in that department for the company.
“I hope to see that percent go up at my places of work in the next 10 years, and I have been actively trying to help advance other female sportscasters and journalists at the college level.”
(Visit Bridgette’s website).